Laura Loomer meets with Ukraine's Zelenskyy after her major reversal on the war

By — Jill Colvin, Associated Press Jill Colvin, Associated Press By — Volodymyr Yurchuk, Associated Press Volodymyr Yurchuk, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/laura-loomer-meets-with-ukraines-zelenskyy-after-her-major-reversal-on-the-war Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Laura Loomer meets with Ukraine's Zelenskyy after her major reversal on the war World Jul 23, 2026 8:02 PM EDT KYIV (AP) — Laura Loomer, an ardent ally of President Donald Trump with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington. Loomer had spent years minimizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart. "Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian," Loomer wrote on X during her visit to the country. "I often said I don't care. Looking back, that wasn't very nice of me to say." "We need to have moral clarity," she added Thursday. WATCH: How the Mariupol theater strike exposed Russia's brutality in Ukraine It was a stunning reversal for a woman who had spent years criticizing U.S. support for Ukraine's defense, declaring it "a country full of Nazi apologists" — a claim used by Russia to justify its yearslong invasion — and "led by a Jihadi apologist." The skepticism of Ukraine has been shared by other major conservative influencers, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The issue became a major point of contention between more traditional Republicans, like former Vice President Mike Pence, and Trump's MAGA base. Vice President JD Vance was among the earliest and most vocal critics of continued U.S. military aid to the country, and he and Trump clashed with Zelenskyy in a heated Oval Office meeting. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. It was unclear what had prompted Loomer's trip or how she had arranged the meeting with Zelenskyy, which she plugged as an interview for her Rumble show, "Loomer Unleashed." She posted a photo of the two and later a clip from the interview in which she asked Zelenskyy about the Oval Office confrontation and how his relationship with Trump seemed to have improved since then. Zelenskyy credited a brief conversation at the Vatican for the detente — one he called a "historic moment, because we changed the relations during 15, 20 minutes." WATCH: How far-right activist Laura Loomer is shaping the Trump administration Loomer and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the trip. The meeting was confirmed earlier by Dmytro Lytvyn, a spokesperson for the president, who said that no Ukrainian government institution had organized the visit.